On the east side of Ironforge, the 9th Army of the Tang Army was also attacking continuously. Feng Kezhi was also holding back his energy, preparing to present the city of Ironforge as a gift to His Majesty the Emperor.
While Ying'an's 11th Army stormed the train station to the west of Ironforge, Feng Kezhi's 9th Army was fighting hard outside the residential area on the east side.
Yes, it was a hard fight. The dwarf troops had reached the point where they could retire. They mobilized all the troops they could find and used their own flesh and blood to block the progress of the Tang soldiers.
There are dozens or even hundreds of dwarf soldiers in each building. These soldiers have no tactics at all, they are just standard. They gather together with simple weapons and wait for the Tang army's artillery shells to fly over.
If you don't fight, it will definitely not work. These dwarf soldiers can fire two shots to create some trouble for the Tang army. But if you fight, it will be a waste of time and ammunition...
Don't think that after blowing up a building, it's done. The attacking troops have to clear the ruins and find ways to let heavy weapons and equipment pass through, which will take more time.
Therefore, for the 9th Army of the Tang Army, the attack may not be difficult, but cleaning up these ruins will require a lot of energy.
We are still in the suburbs, and the density of houses has not yet reached that depressing level. Once we enter the city, the collapse of the buildings may completely block the streets, making it really inconvenient for tanks and armored vehicles to continue advancing.
Every building seems to be a big mountain, with the dwarf soldiers guarding the top of the mountain towering down. Attacking such a place requires patience and powerful firepower.
In short, failure to move forward will cost you a huge price, and the casualties of the Tang army are also increasing. The street fighting has indeed narrowed the gap between the two sides, giving the disadvantaged dwarf side some leverage to struggle.
However, on the flanks, the Tang army's progress was much faster: whether in the west or east, the troops of Ying'an and Feng Kezhi advanced very smoothly.
Balov's Western Front was being cut by Ying'an, the 3rd Army continued to retreat, and the 13th Army began to be compressed into Ironforge City.
Xie Ke was even more passive. His troops were basically defeated all the way from the north. Military discipline itself was already broken, and it was no longer easy to hold on until now.
In the train station on the west side, a dwarf soldier carrying a rifle bent around a smoking crater and rushed behind an overturned train carriage.
There were some ammunition boxes stacked there, and next to them were a few "new recruits" who were loading ammunition for the troops. These recruits didn't even have military uniforms. They wore traditional dwarf leather hats and dirty clothes. They knelt on the ground and pressed bullets into the waves.
Sand submachine gun magazine.
That's right, it's the magazine: As the battle continued, the drum drum was gradually replaced by magazines that were easier to produce and easier to maintain due to easy damage and malfunction.
Although the number of equipment is smaller, there are actually very few dwarf submachine gunners killed in battle due to reloading - even if they are, it is an isolated phenomenon.
Anyway, there is almost no chance to use up the bullets in the drum, so it is better to replace it with a cheaper magazine... In such a disadvantageous war situation, it is good to have some use.
This kind of Bobosha submachine gun modified into a magazine was distributed to the troops in large numbers. Some dwarf soldiers held MP submachine guns in their hands. This is a weapon provided by the elves. It is easy to use, but it has ammunition.
The time is not easy to find.
"There is a Tang army crossing the rails on the flank... We may be beaten on both sides soon." The dwarf soldier carrying a rifle had just gone to conduct reconnaissance. He saw the movements of the Tang army on the flank and reported to his superiors worriedly.
"Without a bunker, we can't stop them from coming along the railway track." The dwarf company commander, with his arm wrapped in dirty bandages, rummaged through his pockets and found the last cigarette he had left.
The quality of this stuff is getting worse and worse. The ones distributed before the war still had a bit of a smell. The cigarettes distributed now are basically dried grass leaves on the roadside and rolled into paper.
There's not even a filter, and you'll have to spit out smoke for a long time after taking one puff. But there's no other way. If you're addicted to smoking, you can only rely on this thing to comfort yourself, otherwise you can only endure it.
It's a pity that even this kind of cigarette is almost gone... In the future, if there are still future days, he will have to find a way by himself.
"No tanks or armored vehicles were seen." The soldier who went to investigate added.
"We can't stop them without tanks." The company commander squinted his eyes and sighed. Their tactical level has indeed improved a lot. As the battle progressed, many of them gained some combat experience.
But compared with the Tang Army on the opposite side, they are still as immature as babies. Take snipers as an example, their snipers can indeed cause some trouble for the Tang Army, but compared with their counterparts in the Tang Army, their functions are too single.
It is easy to snipe one or two targets. It can dispatch artillery strikes, reconnaissance and confirm intelligence and other functions. Due to the constraints of communication methods and technical equipment, the gap between dwarf snipers is very obvious.
What makes people even more desperate is that there are a large number of precision shooters in the Tang Army's platoon-level combat teams. The accuracy of their opponents is comparable to that of snipers, but there are more of them, and the weapon sights are equipped with better accuracy.
Under the suppression of these precision shooters, the losses of the dwarf troops were staggering. Sometimes, hundreds of people could die in a day from the opponent's precise shooting. This number was enough to make the dwarf commanders collapse.
"Let the rest of the 2nd platoon go to the side. Build a defensive line... If the Tang army attacks, find a way to block it. If you can't defeat it, retreat, but give me a message before retreating." The company commander thought for a while, and finally decided.
It was decided to let the 2 platoons with the greatest losses go to the side to deal with it.
At least create a blockade to buy the Tang army some time to retreat when they threaten the entire company's flanks.
"Okay!" The clever soldier nodded his head, then bent over and ran to the resting position of the 2nd platoon with his rifle. There were still half of the platoon left, the platoon leader had been killed, and the deputy platoon leader was temporarily in charge.
.
Behind the platform where a scrapped locomotive was parked, another new dwarf infantry battalion stepped onto the front line after an order. There is no such thing as replacement here, it is just that the new troops are filling in, and the old troops are being replaced.
No need to withdraw...
If you can live to see the new reinforcements, you are already a veteran with rich combat experience.